The Virginia Happy Trails Running Club puts on several excellent training runs for the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 race held in May. The Martin Luther King weekend was the first of the fat ass events. It was a warm, cold, sunny, snowy, foggy weekend to run!

Rosaryville 50K is run on single track mountain bike trails in Maryland. It’s a 3 loop course that is fairly flat, not terribly technical (perfect for getting lazy and falling!), and extremely runnable. The Veteran’s Day race was much better weather-wise, with temps in the 40’s and 50’s as opposed to the over 100 degree temps of the July race. With the help of Tom and Hai – Sara and I both ran a 50K personal best time of 5:25. What a fun, fun day to run with friends.

It was a fabulous fall day to run 50++ miles with 9,000+ feet of climbing in the mountains – on a very tough course. Tight cut-off times made this a bit of a race against the clock, but I had a few minutes to take some photos and finish in 11:32. It was too gorgeous not to capture some of these great memories in photos. What a fun, fun day on trail. Enjoy!

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as the sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” – John Muir

Fabulous fall colors

The mountains were glowing with autumn colors.

A beautiful sunrise on the ridge.

The Lynchburg Reservoir sparkling in the autumn sunlight.

A patchwork quilt of fall colors.

“The mountains reserve their choice gifts for those who stand upon their summits.” Sir Francis Younghusband

We went back out to The Wild Oak Trail this weekend because the trail had been calling my name for two weeks since I ran four loops of her awesomeness. I just couldn’t stay away. This has quickly become my favorite trail. It’s the perfect mix of challenging climbs, sweet single track, technical descents, pine needle loveliness, spectacular views, did I mention the challenging climbs?, runnable double track and meandering ridges. I have truly fallen in love with the Wild Oak Trail and she did not disappoint this weekend. With temperatures in the lower 20’s, it was a chilly sunrise start but the clear blue sky and endless views made the cold not feel bad at all. The loop is a little over 27 miles, but when one gets too excited that they have managed to stay on trail through the trickiest part to navigate, they just might miss their turn and get 5 bonus miles of ridge running. Oh well, it gave me a sunrise and a sunset on trail (YAY!) and a bit of a darkness run that was a fabulous way to spend a Saturday. Happy running indeed.

Sunrise while climbing Little Bald. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

Little Bald

Near the top of Little Bald

Blue skies, beautiful mountains

Just before the climb to Hankey Mountain

Hankey Mountain – how come the pictures don’t look NEARLY as steep as that climb is?!